Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

[NomoreaTorontonian]

I wish I could say that Brown's Toronto Directory of 1861-62 was mighty right. Sloppy mistakes all over. Typos that must have been caused by a compositor having the list read to him. He was either hard of hearing or the office was really noisy.

Then last night I discovered he didn't know Bathurst Street existed north of Queen!

BTW, don't blame George Brown. This was W R Brown, someone else completely.

 

[J T CUNNINGHAM]

"Then last night I discovered he didn't know Bathurst Street existed north of Queen!" QUOTE NomoreaTorontonian


Consider yourself lucky; Caverhill's Toronto City Directory (1859/60) did not even list by street, just occupant name.

From Fisher & Taylor's Toronto Directory: (1874)

BATHURST, from Front West, north to Bloor West,
(St George, St Andrew and St Patrick wards.)


Regards,
J T

 

[yonderbean]

Actually Brown is correct that Bathurst stopped at Queen in 1861-62. North of Queen it was a semi-private lane called "Crookshank's Lane", and it was renamed as part of Bathurst in about 1870. Even then it was mostly a dirt track through farmland, crossed by other farm lanes. From maps I've seen I don't think this section of the city was built up much until the 1880's and most of Bloor West was rural until well into the 1890's.

I wish I could say that Brown's Toronto Directory of 1861-62 was mighty right. Sloppy mistakes all over. Typos that must have been caused by a compositor having the list read to him. He was either hard of hearing or the office was really noisy.

Then last night I discovered he didn't know Bathurst Street existed north of Queen!

BTW, don't blame George Brown. This was W R Brown, someone else completely.

 

[Urban Shocker]

At least the're still there. Perhaps my standards are not as high as yours, Urban Shocker.

The Danforth is always inviting. A great Toronto street.

Yes, and despite decades of having a subway carrying tens of thousands of passengers every day beneath it, still mostly a two storey stretch of street. I wasn't really putting down the new "look" so much as remarking on how we've gone from a horizontal form ( a residential strip above a retail strip ) to one where two storey "units" with different coulour schemes that stress differences is now the norm.

 

[J.S.]

Hi! I've noticed some cottage talk here and there, and wanted to point out these cottages on Robinson St, n of Queen W and w of Bathurst.

Backside of 101 - 103 -105 Robinson St in 1939

And today, from the front (via Google street view)

The house on the other side of the street looks to be the same one too

About me: my bf introduced me to the online archives about a week ago and now I'm hooked. Excellent thread!

 

[Urban Shocker]

The service wickets are gone now - I suppose one could do something as quaint as go to City Hall and pay your taxes or water bill in those days.

You still can at "New" City Hall ... and I do!

 

[Mustapha]

Dare I say, Might's makes Right?

A Wisenheimer eh, nguk nguk.

 

[Mustapha]

Hi! I've noticed some cottage talk here and there, and wanted to point out these cottages on Robinson St, n of Queen W and w of Bathurst.

Backside of 101 - 103 -105 Robinson St in 1939

And today, from the front (via Google street view)

The house on the other side of the street looks to be the same one too

About me: my bf introduced me to the online archives about a week ago and now I'm hooked. Excellent thread!

Welcome J.S., thank you and hello. There are a few cottages on Bathurst proper too, on the west side. These are verrry close to the roadway, not very tranquil. If I lived in one - charming as they are - I'd never open the front windows because of the noise.

 

[Mustapha]

... differences is now the norm.

I wiil grant you the effect is a bit jarring, It wouldn't happen in London - where the Church owns everything anyways.

 

[Mustapha]

This was at Yonge and Bloor? Where the Hudson's Bay building is? Really? Those cars are from the 70s, though.

Yep. I think it came down soon after that last portrait. I remember applying for a summer job at a spanking new Bay store in 1973.

 

[J T CUNNINGHAM]

"A Wisenheimer eh, nguk nguk. " QUOTE Mustapha aka "Moe".


"C'mon! Spreadout!" QUOTE "Moe".


Regards,
J T

 

[Mustapha]

Never knew this, but the long-demolished Royal Bank on the NE corner of Bloor and Yonge was originally a Traders Bank:

June 2 addition.




Thanks to thecharioteer, and wwwebster,













I present,




























an Urban Toronto Then and Now World Record of - FIVE - [5] - THENS and a - can't help it - less than uplifting Now.




Then. c1909. Fifth pic courtesy of wwwebster.

Now. May 2011.

 

[Mustapha]

I never say this but man, that was a loss.

 

[thecharioteer]

I never say this but man, that was a loss.

Particularly because it wasn't even in the way of the tower, just the charmless bank pavilion:

 

[adma]

Particularly because it wasn't even in the way of the tower, just the charmless bank pavilion

Though early c20 ungainly-Edwardianism was still just teetering on the edge of "fashionability" in the early 70s--heritage types then tended to think more of the Art Nouveau overtones of the also-demolished CIBC on the NW corner. Yeah; that was then, this is now, and even the "radical" Sewell-ians were ahead of that game by then.)

Myself, I'd be interested in tracing the earlier instances of digital time/info display in town, like here. (I remember someone saying that Manning Chambers across from Old City Hall--and demolished for New City Hall--also sported a noteworthy display late in its lifetime. Wonder if there are pictures of *that*...)